ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

HIS FRIENDSHIP FOR HUMANITY 
AND SACRIFICE FOR OTHERS 



AN ADDRESS BY 

J. B. OAKLEAF 

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DELIVERED AT 

AUGUSTANA COLLEGE, ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS 

BY INVITATION OF THE FACULTY 

FEBRUARY 12, 1909 



t.4-5' 



- 



1910 

DESAULNIERS & CO. 

Printers and Publishers 

Moline, Illinois 



Gift 

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ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



'T^HROUGH all the ages no man has ever been 
■*- accorded the honor which is being accorded 
Abraham Lincoln today. Every school-house is a 
mecca for the children, every college and university 
is holding exercises today in commemoration of the 
one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Abraham 
Lincoln. Foreign lands are vying with Lincoln's 
native land to do honor to his memory. It is fitting 
and proper that we gather in this Chapel this 
evening and repeat the theme which is the subject 
of my address on this occasion, for in so doing we 
tell the story of his life, recite the Gettysburg 
address in unison and read that peer of eulogies, 
the editorial of Daniel Willard Fiske, who was editor 
of the Syracuse, New York, Daily Journal, on the 
15th day of April, 1865. 

Were I to address only the young men and young 
ladies of this audience, I should want to confine 
myself along one line, but as the audience is com- 
posed of old and young, some of whom were on the 
field of action during the memorable days of the 
early sixties, and, as the faculty of this institution 

9 



has arranged for the exercises which are distinctively 
in memory of Lincoln, I shall endeavor to present 
such phases of Lincoln's life, as in my opinion will 
be best fitting for this occasion. 

If I should ask those in this audience who have 
read the complete life of Abraham Lincoln to raise 
their hands, I am confident that many would not 
respond, yet there is not one in this audience who 
is not familiar, more or less, with the life of Abraham 
Lincoln, for the reason that so much has been written 
in newspapers, magazines and other periodicals 
concerning him that everyone must have read a 
great deal about Lincoln. 



/Lincoln 1 
The Boy J 



The Boy 

Abraham Lincoln was brought up in penury and 
want, and when he was but nine years old his 
mother died. Like all frontier boys, Abraham 
Lincoln was denied the benefits of the school. 
Schools were held in deserted cabins found here 
and there in the settlement, with earthen floors, 
small holes for windows, sometimes illuminated by 
as much light as could penetrate through paper 
greased with lard. The teachers were usually in 
keeping with their primitive surroundings, as the 
salary was not sufficient to attract men of education, 
and, as a rule, the pupils would, in a few months, 

10 



know as much as the teacher. While in Indiana 
Abraham Lincoln would trudge nine miles to school, 
and the last schooling he had was when he was a 
lad of seventeen years of age. Up to that time his 
whole time spent in school would not exceed six 
months. 

Abraham was a husky lad, strong and muscular, 
but he was not a huntsman. We have no record, 
nor has anyone been able to say, that Abraham 
Lincoln ever killed any game, for he had too kind 
a heart to become a huntsman. 

While at Gentryville he made a trip to New 
Orleans with a tradesman, on a flatboat loaded 
with produce, and it was on this trip that Abraham 
Lincoln saw the possibilities of a future for any 
young man who would be willing to apply himself. 
The thirst for knowledge, as a means of rising in the 
world, became a kind of passion in him and he left 
no opportunity unimproved that would afford him 
a chance to learn something that he had not known 
before. It was while in Indiana that he read Aesop's 
Fables, Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress, History 
of the United States and Weem's Life of Washing- 
ton, and he became acquainted with the town 
constable who had a copy of the Revised Statutes 
of Indiana, which book became to Lincoln the 
loadstone to which he was drawn repeatedly. 



11 



/Lincoln 7 

The Young Man J 

Abraham Lincoln attained his full growth — six 
feet and four inches — two years before he became of 
age, and it was seldom that he met a man whom 
he could not easily handle, if required to do so. 

In 1830, just as Lincoln had attained his majority, 
he came to Illinois with his father and step-mother. 
Thomas Lincoln, his father, had heard of the prairies 
of Illinois; had heard of the beauties of the land 
which lay to the westward; that it was possible to 
find hundreds of acres without a tree upon them. 
Having grown tired of making a field by cutting 
down the trees and grubbing the stumps, he 
decided to leave for the rich prairies of Illinois. 
It seemed that Fate guided the father of Abraham 
Lincoln, for Abraham Lincoln fell in with a class 
of people different from those whom he had met in 
Kentucky and Indiana. In Illinois, in close prox- 
imity to the Mississippi river, people from the far 
east had settled, coming down the Ohio, thence up 
the Mississippi; others having come up the Missis- 
sippi from New Orleans, and still others from 
the New England States by way of the Great 
Lakes. 

When Abraham Lincoln attained his majority 
he bade good-bye to his father and step-mother 
and struck out into the world without a dollar in 

12 



his pocket, with only sufficient clothing to cover his 
nakedness, but with a heart as great as that which 
beat within the breast of any man. He was strong 
of limb, and had a rugged constitution that did not 
succumb to the primitive habits of the frontiermen. 
He was a welcome guest at every cabin, at every 
gathering, and it only took a short time for him to 
be considered the leader in any community in which 
he settled. He had not been in Illinois very long 
until it was learned that he had made a trip to 
New Orleans and he was approached by a man who 
wanted to send a cargo of produce to New Orleans 
by way of the Sangamon and Mississippi rivers, 
and Lincoln consented to take charge of the cargo 
and make the trip. It was on this trip that he 
witnessed an auction sale of slaves. Standing in 
the slave market of New Orleans he beheld a negress 
on the block being sold to the highest bidder. The 
negress was a mulatto, with fine features, showing 
a sensitiveness about her surroundings that was 
not shown by the others, and she was, therefore, 
singled out by Lincoln as one who particularly 
felt the disgrace. At that time there was dealt 
the first blow to slavery, for Abraham Lincoln 
turned away with a sorrowful heart and remarked 
with a vehemence that had never before been known 
in Lincoln's manner, to the boys who were with 
him: "By God, if I ever have a chance to hit that 
thing I will hit it hard." He did not use the word 

13 



"God" in an irreverent manner, but he meant that 
if he ever got a chance to hit the institution of 
slavery by the help of God he would hit it hard. 



/Lincoln 7 

The Soldier J 



He returned to Illinois with his vision broadened 
by his second trip to New Orleans. He saw there 
was to be a great awakening in agriculture and the 
professions and he came back determined that he 
would leave no stone unturned to fit himself for 
any duty that might devolve upon him. Imme- 
diately upon his return Governor Reynolds issued a 
call for volunteers to subdue Black Hawk, who was 
then operating in the Rock river country. Lincoln 
thought it would be a good opportunity to see 
what lay to the north of him. He had no idea of 
what they were to do, but he knew they were going 
out to fight Indians, and so he and a number of his 
boy friends presented themselves for enlistment, 
and on the evening of the 7th of May, 1832, he and 
his command arrived at the mouth of Rock river, 
and on the 10th of May, 1832, he was sworn into 
the service of the United States. But Abraham 
Lincoln was not a soldier, nor was he the son of a 
soldier, nor did he know what was expected of him, 
yet his comrades elected him captain of their com- 
pany on account of his popularity. On their march 

14 



from Beardstown to Yellow Banks, now Oquawka, 
and from Oquawka to the mouth of Rock river, 
Lincoln found himself in a dilemma many times as 
to what kind of command he should give in order 
that his company should make a certain move, but 
he was a tactful man, as he was in later years. When 
they came up to a high rail fence where there was 
a small opening, he could not think of the word of 
command in order to get his men through the open- 
ing in single file, so he called a halt and dismissed 
them, with the request that they should assemble 
on the other side of the fence. The chances are 
that he got them through quicker than if he had 
used the proper command. 

After being elected President he told of an inci- 
dent that occurred while he was in camp on Rock 
river. At a ball at the White House thieves made 
off with many of the hats and overcoats of the 
guests, so that when ready to take leave Vice- 
president Hamlin's head covering was not to be 
found. 

"Ill tell you what, Hamlin," said a friend, "early 
in the evening I saw a man, possessed of keen fore- 
sight, hide his hat upstairs. I am sure he would 
be willing to donate it to the administration, and 
I will go and get it for you." 

When the hat was produced it was found to be 
very much after the style of Hamlin's hat, but it 
bore a badge of mourning, which emblem the Vice- 

15 



president ripped off with his penknife. The party- 
stood chatting merrily as they waited for the car- 
riages to be driven up, when a man stepped directly 
in front of Mr. Hamlin and stood staring at the 
"tile" with which his head was covered. 

"What are you looking at, sir?" asked Hamlin 
sharply. 

"Your hat," answered the man mildly. "If it 
had a weed on it, I should say it was mine." 

"Well, it hasn't got a weed on it, has it?" asked 
the Vice-president. 

"No, sir," said the hatless man, "it hasn't." 

"Then it isn't your hat, is it?" said the proud 
possessor of it. 

"No, I guess not," said the man as he turned to 
walk away. 

When this little incident was explained to Presi- 
dent Lincoln, he laughed heartily and said: 

"That reminds me, Hamlin, of the 'stub-tailed 
cow.' 

"It was a long time ago, when I was pioneering 
and soldiering in Illinois (1832), and we put up a 
joke on some officers of the United States army. 
My party and I were a long way off from the com- 
forts of civilized life, and our only neighbors were 
the garrison of a United States fort. We did pretty 
well for rations, had plenty of salt meat and flour, 
but milk was not to be had for love or money; 
and as we all longed for that delicacy, we thought 

16 



it pretty mean that the officers of the fort, who had 
two cows — a stub-tailed one and a black and white 
one — offered us no milk, though we threw out many 
and strong hints that it would be acceptable. At 
last, after much consultation, we decided to teach 
them a lesson and to borrow or steal one of those 
cows, just as you choose to put it. But how it 
could be done without the cow being at once identi- 
fied and recovered was the question. 

"At last we hit on a plan. One of our party was 
dispatched a day's ride to the nearest slaughter- 
house, where he procured a long red cow's tail to 
match the color of the stub-tailed cow. After 
possessing ourselves of this animal, we neatly tied 
our purchase to the poor stub, and with appetites 
whetted by long abstinence we drank and relished 
the sweet milk which 'our cow' gave. A few days 
afterwards we were honored by a call from the com- 
mander of the fort. 

" 'Say, boys,' said he, 'we have lost one of our 
cows.' Of course we felt very sorry and expressed 
our regret accordingly. 'But,' continued the 
commander, 'I came over to say that if that 
cow of yours had a stub tail, I should say it was 
ours.' 

"'But she hasn't a stub tail, has she?' asked we, 
sure of our point. 

" 'No,' said the officer, 'she certainly has not a 
stub tail.' 

17 



" 'Well, she isn't your cow then/ and our argument 
was unanswerable, as was Hamlin's." 

The term of service for which Lincoln and the 
rest of the volunteers had enlisted being now ended, 
a large number re-enlisted and among them was 
Abraham Lincoln. At the time of his second 
enlistment he was sworn into the service by none 
other than the gallant Robert Anderson, who was 
in charge of Fort Sumter when the flag that Lincoln 
loved so well was fired upon by one of its own. 
This bright, energetic, young lieutenant did not 
then realize that the tall uncouth youth, standing 
six feet and four inches, would be the occupant of 
the White House thirty years later, but so it is 
with this ever-revolving wheel of chance, showing 
new phases, presenting new things never thought 
of before. 

The Black Hawk war finally came to an end and 
Lincoln never saw the enemy as he subsequently 
said he never came close enough to smell powder. 
Black Hawk had surrendered and the Rock river 
country was cleared of the invader. 



/Lincoln 1 

The Politician J 



Lincoln had no sooner returned to his home in 
the Sangamon bottoms than he became a candidate 
for the legislature. This was a new role to Lincoln, 

18 



but one that he accepted with a great deal of pleasure 
for it was a delight to him to mingle with the people. 
He was, as the politician says, "a good mixer," yet 
he never drank and never smoked, so that he could 
not in an off-hand way hand a cigar to a friend 
and ask him to have a smoke with him, nor could 
he ask a friend to go to a bar and take a drink, but 
he had ways far more effective than these. He was 
defeated the first time he ran for the office, but 
it was always a source of great pleasure to him to 
know that everyone of the boys who went with 
him to the Rock river country voted for him. He 
was subsequently elected and served with honor 
in the legislature. He favored "internal improve- 
ments" which question was then agitating the minds 
of the people. 



/Lincoln 1 

The Surveyor J 



But the legislative honors were not lucrative 
and he resorted to many other means of gaining 
a livelihood, such as keeping a store, which ended 
in disaster, working for others for small pay, 
and finally he took up surveying. It is stated that 
he had no money with which to buy surveying 
instruments and that his first chain was a grape- 
vine, but as land was cheap and there were no 
difficult boundaries to settle, the grape-vine answered 



19 



the purpose for awhile. It is a queer coincidence 
that our first President should also be a surveyor; 
that Washington and Lincoln, the two men who 
stand uppermost in the hearts of the people as 
Presidents of the United States, should begin life 
by surveying. But when we realize that they were 
both in new countries, that the demand was made 
upon someone who was able to run the lines and 
locate corners, it is no wonder that when there 
was a person in a community who was capable of 
doing it he should be sought after and urged to 
assume such duties. 

Lincoln was not a speculator; never owned but 
one piece of real estate in this state, and that was 
his home in Springfield. He was very much unlike 
a certain man whom he had appointed to a position 
in the General Land Office, and who was also a 
surveyor, but who used his position as a means of 
getting considerable land. Lincoln heard of it, and, 
knowing that the man had been doing surveying 
on the side, in addition to surveying for the public, 
Lincoln looked at him with a quizzical eye and 
said to him: "I understand you are monarch of all 
you survey." The thrust went home. The man 
resigned his position. 

About this time in Lincoln's career occurred 
something which was unusual to Lincoln but not 
unusual to the average young man. I think all 
young men have to go through such an experience 

20 



and they are the better for it; they become better 

men; they have a better conception of life. Lincoln 

bestowed his affection upon Ann Rutledge, who 

will never be forgotten because her name was linked 

with the immortal Lincoln. She died in 1835 and 

when her remains were lowered into the grave 

Lincoln's heart was broken. He never referred 

to Ann Rutledge but that a tear came into his eye. 

She was a good girl and would have made him an 

excellent wife, but Fate decreed otherwise. It 

was at this time that Mr. Lincoln first read the 

poem by William Knox in which he saw so much 

beauty, and when he would visit the grave of Ann 

Rutledge the lines would come to him: 

"Oh! why should the spirit of mortal be proud 
Like a swift-fleeting meteor, a fast flying cloud, 
A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave, 
He passeth from life to his rest in the grave." 

Her grave is marked by a boulder, placed there 
by some kind friend, and on the face is chiseled 
"Ann Rutledge," and no one can stand by the side 
of that boulder without feeling that he is very close 
to the soul of Abraham Lincoln. 



/Lincoln 1 

The Lawyer J 



The Lawyer 

Lincoln did not consider that the work he was 
doing was in keeping with his ideas and he began 
to read law and was finally admitted to the bar. 

21 



But he felt that he must make his home at the 
Capitol. He went to Springfield and met his old 
friend Speed, told him what he intended to do, 
figured what it would cost to fit up a room and it 
amounted to $17.00, which was beyond his means. 
All he had with him were the saddlebags in which 
he had stored away his belongings, and he had rid- 
den into Springfield on a borrowed horse. He told 
Speed of his predicament. Speed looked at him, 
felt sorry for him and told him he had a room up- 
stairs that was large enough for both of them and 
that he could occupy it in company with him if he 
wanted to. Lincoln went upstairs, looked at the 
room, came back and said, "Speed, I have moved." 
Such was Lincoln's entrance into the Capitol of 
the State of Illinois, in 1837. He was a Whig 
elector on the Harrison ticket in 1840, and was 
elected to Congress in the fall of 1846, and at the 
close of his term, in the spring of 1849, he went back 
to Springfield fully intending to quit politics and 
take up law in earnest. He had been at the Capitol 
of the nation; he had seen there what he had not 
seen at home; he met and conversed with educated 
men, he saw affluence on every hand, whereas at 
home he saw only poverty. He realized that these 
men would be coming westward and that he would 
have to cope with other talent than the f rontiermen ; 
that it was necessary for him to equip himself for 
the day when he would have to meet these men 

22 



face to face in forensic battles. And from that time 
until 1856 Lincoln was out of politics. But during 
this time his mind had become broadened. He was 
then considered one of the foremost lawyers of the 
State. He met and vanquished the best talent that 
was to be found. He was now counted an antagonist 
who must be reckoned with, and his legal services 
were in demand. He became acquainted with David 
Davis, 0. H. Browning, Leonard Swett, Stephen 
A. Douglas, S. T. Logan, Lyman Trumble and a 
score of others. In every county seat from Peoria 
to the south of Springfield, from the Mississippi to 
the eastern border of the State, he was known, and 
not a term of court in any of these circuits would 
pass but that Lincoln's services were in demand. 
To give an idea of the men he had to meet, I will 
relate an incident which occurred in 1842. Joseph 
Smith, who was then a Mormon Prophet living 
at Nauvoo, Illinois, the Mormon stronghold on the 
banks of the Mississippi, had been arrested and 
was wanted by a sheriff from Missouri, and the 
chances were that if they had got him into Missouri 
they would have railroaded him to the scaffold. 
Smith was charged with having instigated an 
attempt by some Mormons to assassinate Governor 
Boggs, of Missouri. Mr. Butterfield, one of the 
ablest lawyers of Chicago, on behalf of Smith, sued 
out from Judge Pope a writ of habeas corpus and 
Smith was brought before the United States District 

23 



Court at Springfield. On the hearing it clearly- 
appeared that he had not been in Missouri, nor out 
of Illinois within the time in which the crime had 
been committed, and that if he had any connection 
with the offense the acts must have been done in 
Illinois. Was he then a fugitive from justice? 
Mr. Lamborn, the attorney- general of Illinois, 
appeared on behalf of the people. Mr. Butterfield 
moved for the discharge of Smith. The "Prophet," 
so-called, was attended by his twelve Apostles and 
a large number of his followers and the case excited 
great interest. The court room was thronged 
with prominent members of the bar and public men. 
Judge Pope was a gallant gentleman of the old 
school and loved nothing better than to be in the 
midst of youth and beauty. Seats were crowded 
on the Judge's platform, on both sides and behind 
him, and an array of brilliant and beautiful ladies 
almost encircled the Court. Mr. Butterfield, dressed 
a la Webster, in blue dress coat and metal buttons, 
with a buff vest, arose with dignity and in pro- 
found silence. Pausing and running his eyes admir- 
ingly from the central figure of Judge Pope along 
the rows of lovely women on each side of him, he 
said: "May it please the Court, I appear before 
you today under circumstances most novel and 
peculiar. I am to address the Pope (bowing to 
the Judge) surrounded by angels (bowing still lower 
to the ladies) in the presence of the Holy Apostles 

24 



in behalf of the Prophet of the Lord." Can you 
imagine Abraham Lincoln in such presence, such 
surroundings? It does not appear that he took 
part in the case but he was no doubt there for it 
was in the city of Springfield and he was interested 
as well as others. Mrs. Lincoln was one of the 
"angels" referred to. Lincoln never omitted an 
opportunity to hear a speech. At one time E. D. 
Baker, an old friend of his, was making a speech 
and Lincoln was occupying an office on the second 
floor and there was a trap-door right over the plat- 
form where Mr. Baker was speaking. Lincoln 
opened the trap-door and stretched himself out on 
the floor, and, looking down through the hole, was 
listening to the speech. There was a gang of rowdies 
in the hall who intended to break up the meeting. 
The Whig doctrine, announced by Baker, was not 
in harmony with their ideas and they were about to 
pull the speaker off the platform. Lincoln thought 
it was time for him to take a hand and he let himself 
down through the trap-door and dropped to the 
platform, much to the amazement of the crowd. 
He assumed a belligerent attitude, and told them 
that this was a free country and Mr. Baker should 
be allowed to finish and then if any of them wanted 
to say anything they could use the platform as long 
as they desired. Baker finished his speech. 

To show Lincoln's tact and wit I may mention 
that one time when he was a candidate for the 



25 



legislature the Democrats had secured the services 
of one Forquer, a very able speaker and a very fine 
looking man who dressed with excellent taste. He 
had, however, left the Whig party and gone over to 
the Democratic party for the sake of an office and he 
had ridiculed Lincoln a great deal. It was just a 
little more than Lincoln could stand. This man 
Forquer had recently built a fine house in Springfield 
on the site occupied by the new Supreme Court build- 
ing, one of the finest in that part of the country, and 
had equipped it with lightning rods, the first lightning 
rods that some of the people had seen, and the 
house attracted a great deal of attention. People 
would come miles to take a look at that house and 
the lightning rods and hear the comments of the 
people as to what the lightning rods were supposed 
to do. When Lincoln got up to reply he stood very 
calm but his eyes flashed with anger, his pale cheeks 
indicating his indignation, and he commenced his 
speech by saying: "I am informed that this gentle- 
man has said that he intended to take this young 
man down, alluding to me, but I will state that I 
am not as young in years as I am in the tricks and 
trades of the politician. But," said he, pointing his 
long, bony finger at Forquer, "live long or die 
young, I would rather die now, than, like the 
gentleman, change my politics and with the change 
receive an office worth $3,000.00 a year and then 
feel obliged to erect a lightning rod over my 

26 



house to protect a guilty conscience from an 
offended God." 

As stated before, when Lincoln's congressional 
term ended he returned to Springfield with the 
intention of giving up politics, but the country would 
not allow him to remain dormant very long and he 
was soon compelled to come out and take a part in 
the fight that was being waged. New questions 
arose that demanded attention, because at this time 
the slave power had been at work, like a gigantic 
devil fish, reaching out its tentacles in all directions, 
seeking to gain territory here, to gain a foothold there 
in order to spread the curse of slavery. 



/Lincoln 1 

The Leader J 



In 1819 to 1821 a most determined resistance 
was made to the admission of Missouri as a slave 
state and it was finally settled by what is known as 
the Missouri Compromise, carried through Congress 
largely by the personal influence of Henry Clay. 
By this compromise Missouri was admitted as a 
slave state with a law providing that all the western 
territory north of the parallel of latitude 36°, 30' 
should be forever free. The conflict between the 
free and the slave states was terminated in favor 
of the slave holders in the form of this compromise, 
which for a long time was considered sacred by all 

27 



parties. If Missouri had at that time come in as 
a free state it probably would have been decisive 
and would have given the balance of power to the 
North, and perhaps it might have saved the republic 
from the great civil war. 

The Whigs in 1850 took the position that the 
slavery question was settled by the compromise 
of 1821 and should not be re-opened, and the policy 
had the approval of President Fillmore. But in 
1854 the enemy showed itself above the horizon of 
the Missouri compromise and demanded its repeal 
by what is known as the Kansas- Nebraska Bill. 
This bill which would repeal the Missouri com- 
promise was strongly supported by Douglas, who, 
only five years before, had said: "The Missouri 
compromise is akin to the Constitution and canon- 
ized in the hearts of the American people as a sacred 
thing which no ruthless hand would ever be reckless 
enough to disturb." Kansas was admitted and the 
Missouri compromise question was repealed in 
that the new states should decide by a vote of their 
own people whether or not they should be free or 
whether they should be slave states; what followed 
is well known. Kansas had to fight for its admission 
to the Union and on its escutcheon is inscribed 
"Ad Astra per Aspera," to the stars through diffi- 
culties. The slave holders from every city of 
Missouri ran thousands of men over the borders, 
and the Lecompton Constitution was the result, 

28 



made possible by illegal votes. By reason of the 
repeal of the Missouri compromise the Republican 
party became a necessity and the loyal Whigs, 
the free-soil men, loyal and free-soil Democrats, 
organized the Republican party. 

In 1858 the Republicans put their second state 
ticket in the field and Abraham Lincoln was at the 
convention. The convention was held at Spring- 
field. Mr. Wharton, who was then a citizen of 
Rock Island, and the editor of the Rock Island 
Advertiser, a staunch Whig paper, and he himself 
a staunch Whig, was a delegate from Rock Island 
county, holding a proxy from Joseph Knox, a 
Democrat who was a strong supporter of Douglas. 
Mr. Knox had been elected as a delegate but did 
not feel that he should show his hand, and, therefore, 
gave his proxy to Mr. Wharton. Mr. Wharton 
was at Springfield and sat on the steps of the platform. 
Mr. Lincoln was called out and made a speech. 
When he finished he sat down by the side of Mr. 
Wharton and asked his opinion about it. These 
facts I have in a letter that was recently written me 
by Mr. Wharton, who is now residing in California. 
Mr. Lincoln asked Mr. Wharton what he thought of 
the speech and the latter replied: "It is not the 
best you can do and I think the people want more 
and I know you are able to do it." Mr. Lincoln 
then asked Mr. Wharton to write a resolution and 
present it commendatory of the ticket which had 

29 



been named and said he would support the resolution 
and make some added remarks. In these added 
remarks he made the famous speech known as "A 
house divided against itself" speech. He then said: 
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." He 
referred to the slave and the free states. He saw 
the inevitable conflict. He saw the war cloud on 
the horizon. He saw the storm approaching. He 
fully realized that it would not be long until the 
slave power would demand its mess of pottage, at 
the mouth of the cannon if need be. There was 
the groom and there was the bride. They had for 
nearly three quarters of a century lived in peace 
and harmony; a little trouble on the surface now 
and then, but not sufficient to mar the welfare of 
the nation, but now he saw that they were being 
separated, that they could not agree and that the 
house was being divided and that it was impossible 
for it to stand. 

In 1858 the celebrated Lincoln-Douglas debates 
took place and Lincoln became famous. We have, 
during the past summer and fall, been celebrating 
the fiftieth anniversary of these debates, and men 
who heard the Lincoln -Douglas debates were 
honorary guests at the exercises. 

Lincoln was defeated for the senate, Douglas 
was triumphantly elected; although Lincoln had 
received the popular vote of the state, the state was 
so gerrymandered that Douglas received the ma- 

30 



jority of the members of the legislature. After his 
election in 1859, Douglas made a triumphant tour 
to Washington, going down the Mississippi to New 
Orleans around by steamer to Washington. Every 
city of note announced his coming by the blowing 
of the whistles and ringing of bells. He was dined 
and wined everywhere and was hailed as a hero, but 
Douglas knew that his career would be short, for 
he, too, had seen the coming of the inevitable 
conflict and that he could not and would not insult 
the flag. 

One of the crowning events of Abraham Lincoln's 
career, as it seems to us now, was the invitation 
that he received in the winter of 1860 from a com- 
pany of young men who had arranged a lyceum 
course in Brooklyn, and who had invited Lincoln 
to come to Brooklyn and deliver a speech. They 
had heard of him in the east. His debates with 
Douglas had made his name known over the whole 
country and they were anxious to have this man of 
the prairies come and talk to them. He went, but 
upon his arrival there he found he was not to speak 
in Brooklyn, as he supposed (I think, in Beecher's 
Church), but they had arranged to have the meeting 
take place at Cooper Institute. On the 27th of 
February, 1860, Abraham Lincoln found himself 
a guest at the Astor House in New York City. A 
committee called on him and told him where he 
was to speak and it was then he learned that he 

31 



was to speak at the Cooper Institute. He had his 
carpet bag with him. He had bought a new suit 
of clothes before leaving home and had crowded 
them into the carpet bag. They were not such a 
fit as the young men in this audience would be satis- 
fied with. If a boy should come to this college with 
as ill-fitting clothes as Lincoln wore that day he 
would be jeered from the time he reached the build- 
ing until he left at the close of his studies. But 
clothes do not make a man, and it did not affect 
Lincoln. At Cooper Institute he met many men 
of whom he had read. There was William Cullen 
Bryant, who presided; there was Horace Greeley; 
there was Mr. Field, and there were fifty or more 
prominent men on the platform. The audience 
was not large for the night was very stormy, but 
those who came out came to hear a man who was 
making a name for himself and making a name for 
his country. He held his audience spellbound. 
No stories, no foolishness; but he started out from 
the beginning as a lawyer would argue a case before 
the Supreme Court of the United States. In the 
afternoon a reporter from the Tribune asked him 
whether or not he had any manuscript. Lincoln 
handed him his speech. It was set up in type that 
afternoon and that manuscript was thrown into the 
waste basket. If that manuscript could be had 
today it would sell for $10,000.00 at auction. So 
this would make another point for Russell Conwell's 

32 



lecture "Acres of Diamonds." Lincoln spoke with- 
out manuscript. He had his matter well in hand 
and from the beginning to the end, for more than 
two hours he held his audience as no man had ever 
held an audience before in that building. Yet none 
of those men who occupied the platform deigned 
to accompany Lincoln to his hotel after his speech. 
Some of the young men who had charge of the meet- 
ing took him to a club-room where they had a 
luncheon and after they had lunched Lincoln started 
for the Astor House. He asked to be shown the 
way, so a young man by the name of Mr. Nott, 
who is still living, said he was going that way and 
would take him there. On the way down Mr. Nott 
noticed that Lincoln limped and asked him if he 
was lame and Lincoln replied, "I have a new pair 
of boots on and they have chafed my heel until 
my foot is very sore." Then Mr. Nott suggested 
that they get on a street car, which they did, but 
before arriving at the Astor House Mr. Nott's street 
was reached and he told Lincoln to remain on the 
car and the conductor would announce the Astor 
House as the street car passed the hotel. 

Such was the reception given Abraham Lincoln, in 
New York City, in 1860. A year later the streets 
were crowded with people eager to get a glimpse of 
the newly elected President of the United States. 

Mr. Nott and a Mr. Brainard (Mr. Brainard is 
still living and I had the pleasure of meeting him 

33 



a year ago in New York) arranged to have the 
Cooper Institute speech published in pamphlet 
form and well annotated, and when they began 
to annotate his speech they found that there was 
not a library in the city of New York that could 
furnish them with the authorities necessary, and 
they could not imagine how Abraham Lincoln was 
able, with the limited libraries to be found in the 
west, to get up and present such a strong array of 
facts ; so they wrote to Mr. Lincoln for his brief and 
he replied that he had none. 

The learned men on the platform at Cooper 
Institute could have said of him what was said of 
the lowly Nazarene eighteen centuries before: 
"From whence did this man get his wisdom, from 
whom did he gain his knowledge?" For they knew 
he had not sat at the feet of a master. 

There hangs on the walls of Brasenose College, 
Oxford University, an engrossed copy of a letter 
written by Mr. Lincoln, November 21st, 1864, to 
Mrs. Bixby, of Boston, Massachusetts, who had 
lost five sons on the field of battle, as a specimen of 
the purest English and most elegant diction extant. 

After a short trip, during which Mr. Lincoln 
visited some of the principal cities in the New 
England States, he returned to his home in Spring- 
field and immediately thereafter steps were taken 
by his friends to present his name to the Republican 
convention that would convene in May at Chicago. 

34 



It was necessary for him to have a solid delegation 
from his own state and that was brought about 
with very little difficulty, and with a solid state 
delegation behind him his friends felt confident 
of his nomination at the convention. If the con- 
vention had been held in New York, or any of the 
eastern cities, it would have been impossible to have 
nominated Lincoln, but it was so decreed that he 
should have the support of his own state in order 
to win out, and, after a two-day struggle in the 
convention, during which time the Illinois delegation 
was Very busy, Lincoln was victorious and Illinois' 
favored son was at the November election elevated 
to the highest position in the gift of the nation. 
Election being over, the task of preparation for 
removal to Washington to assume the heavy burden 
which had been placed upon his shoulders was begun. 
The South was dissatisfied with the election. They 
were not willing to abide by the result and the war 
cloud which Lincoln had predicted years before 
began to show itself upon the southern horizon. 



/Lincoln 1 

The President J 



Lincoln was to leave the scenes of his early 
struggles, and standing on the rear platform of 
the coach which was to carry him to Washington, 
and looking down into the faces of his friends 



35 



who had congregated there to bid him farewell, 
he said: 

"My friends, no one not in my situation can 
appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. 
To this place, and the kindness of these people, I 
owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a 
century, and have passed from a young to an old 
man. Here my children have been born, and one 
is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or 
whether I ever may return, with a task before me 
greater than that which rested upon Washington. 
Without the assistance of that Divine Being who 
ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that 
assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who 
can go with me and remain with you, and be every- 
where for good, let us confidently hope that all 
will yet be well. To His care commending you, as 
I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I 
bid you an affectionate farewell." 

Can you imagine how heavy his heart must have 
been as the train sped away from all that had been 
near and dear to him? He did not expect to return, 
for he felt that he was rushing into a maelstrom of 
civil war and what the end would be no one could 
foresee. He assumed the duties of Chief Magistrate 
of the nation and surrounded himself with men of 
honor and of integrity as his advisers, selecting them 
from different portions of the country and of different 
political beliefs, and among them were competitors 

36 



for the honor of the presidential nomination at 
Chicago. There were those who felt that upon 
their shoulders must rest the responsibility of the 
nation and not upon the shoulders of him who was 
at the nation's head, but they very soon learned 
that Abraham Lincoln was President and they were 
his advisers. 

The war came and Lincoln proved himself equal 
to the task. The enemy was not the severest foe 
with whom the President had to contend for he 
found that his cabinet was honeycombed with deceit 
and his generals were quarreling among themselves. 
But through all Lincoln pursued the even tenor of 
his way, bearing his burdens with that fortitude 
the equal of which had never been known. I may 
mention that Seward, who was the best educated 
man of the cabinet, and who occupied the post of 
secretary of state, felt that he must be the diplomat 
and to him Lincoln must look for that peculiar 
phraseology of state papers which was necessary 
to be promulgated. At one time Lincoln, in a 
state paper, used the word "sugar-coated" and 
Seward remonstrated with him and said, " Mr. 
President, you must remember that you are not 
now addressing a paper to a lot of back-woodsmen 
or frontiermen, but this paper will become a 
part of the archives of the nation and I would 
suggest that you erase these words and substitute 
something more elegant." Lincoln replied : " My 

37 



dear Secretary, no one who will follow us or will 
have occasion to look at these papers will fail to 
know what 'sugar-coated' means." The words were 
not erased. 

Mr. Chase, who was secretary of the treasury, 
was one of the hardest problems with which Lincoln 
had to deal, but he recognized his ability and put 
up with a great deal of back talk from Mr. Chase. 
Mr. Chase had the presidential bee buzzing in his 
bonnet, in fact, there must have been a whole hive 
of them from the amount of noise they made, and 
Chase had no sooner been inducted into office than 
he began to shape things so that he would be nomi- 
nated four years thereafter to succeed Lincoln. The 
friends of Lincoln did not admire the stand that the 
President took for they felt that he should know 
what Chase was doing. They did not imagine that 
he knew every step Chase was taking and what 
was in Chase's mind. At one time there was a 
delegation that went to Lincoln and told him what 
Chase was doing. Lincoln listened quietly and 
then said: "Gentlemen, that puts me in mind of 
a story. Out west there was a man who was known 
as a hen-pecked husband, and the neighborhood 
witnessed the wife of this husband giving her hus- 
band a whipping. The man took it very quietly, got 
out of the way and went down town. Those who 
had witnessed the affair felt very much put out 
with the man who would stand by and allow his 

38 



wife to thus treat him, and they went to hirn and 
said: 'Mr. Blank, we have no respect for you when 
you will allow such things as that. Why don't 
you take your own part like a man and not allow 
your wife to thus treat you?' The husband turned 
around to the friends and said: 'Well, boys, it 
didn't hurt me a bit and you have no idea what a 
power of good it does Mary Ann.' And so," said 
Lincoln, "it is with Chase. It don't hurt me any 
and it does Chase a power of good." 

During the trying days of '61, '2 and '3 Lincoln's 
heart was heavy for he knew the fate of the nation 
hung upon his shoulders. He also knew that the 
slaves on the southern fields were looking for a 
Moses to deliver them out of bondage. Their 
prayers were uttered in the cabins and in the cotton- 
fields, and, as the " Quaker " poet has so well por- 
trayed : 

"We pray de Lord, He gib us signs 

Dat some day we be free! 
De norf winds tell it to de pines, 

De wild duck to de sea. 
We tink it when de church bells ring! 

We dream it in de dream, 
De rice bird mean it when he sing! 

De eagle when he scream." 

Prayers were said by thousands of good men and 
women that out of the curse of war would come the 
blessedness of freedom. Lincoln made a vow to 
God that if a certain event happened he would free 

39 



the slaves, and, in obedience to that vow, on the 

1st day of January, 1863, Lincoln proved that the 

pen is mightier than the sword, for he struck the 

shackles from three million slaves and the din of 

the clanking of the shackles when they fell to the 

ground was heard around the world, across the 

prairies of the west to the peaks of the Rockies, 

which, like a mast of a wireless telegraph station, 

received the message and thence it was wafted to 

the isles of the sea and to the uttermost parts of 

the earth, blended with the music of the spheres 

and died away upon the shoreless sea of humanity. 

Then the poor slaves heard the refrain of the angelic 

host: 

"Peace on earth, good will toward men." 



/Lincoln 1 

The Martyr J 



The Martyr 

Illinois had furnished a man who stood at the 
head of the nation and Lincoln turned to Illinois 
for help and he called to his aid for the highest post 
of honor in the army, Ulysses S. Grant. Grant had 
no sooner taken charge of the armies than he brought 
order out of chaos and the persistent hammering 
towards peace was pursued and Lincoln knew that 
peace would be the result, but so it is with many 
who prosecute a noble deed, who perform a great 
act, who lay out a work; they are struck down as 

40 



it is about to be consummated. The veil is lifted 
and Lincoln is permitted to peer into the future, 
beyond its portals, and he sees on the distant horizon 
that the end is drawing near. Richmond had sur- 
rendered, and under the famous apple-tree at Appo- 
mattox, Lee had laid down his arms at the feet of 
the "silent Commander." People were rejoicing all 
over the north, the soldiers on the march towards 
the Capitol received their laurels and were singing 
hymns of joy, and amidst the singing, the shouts 
and the glorification of a reunited country, the 
assassin steps from out of the dungeon and strikes 
the fatal blow, and he whom the nation had honored, 
whom the nation had loved, lay cold in death. 
On that 15th day of April, 1865, as the sun rose out 
of the far east in the Atlantic Ocean, it cast its 
beams across the lifeless body of our beloved Presi- 
dent. It was then that the country was wrapped 
in mourning, and from every altar all over the land 
prayers were offered up to the Almighty to help 
the nation in its dark hour. The true and noble 
men of the press who had stood by the President 
in their editorials, found it a hard task to tell the 
people what was in their hearts. Our own beloved 
Dr. Seiss, in St. John's Lutheran Church, Phila- 
delphia, preached a sermon on the day of national 
mourning and chose for his text Deuteronomy 33, 
7 and 8: "And Moses was an hundred and twenty 
years old when he died. His eyes were not dim 

41 



nor his natural force abated. And the children 
of Israel wept for Moses on the plains of Mohab 
thirty days." 

Garfield in his eulogy of Lincoln said, "When 
Lincoln died heaven was brought so close to earth 
that the whispering of the angels was heard by the 
children of men." 

One of the greatest editorials that was written 
on the death of Lincoln was written by Daniel 
Willard Fiske, who was then editor of the Syracuse, 
New York, Daily Journal, and within half an horn- 
after the news had been flashed over the wires that 
Abraham Lincoln was dead, he wrote the following 
editorial : 

"Slavery and treason have demanded of the Ameri- 
can republic a great and final sacrifice. For four 
mournful years, on the battlefield and in the hospital, 
she has poured out the noble blood of her brave 
children and offered up the precious lives of her 
patriot citizens. But a sacrifice of blood still more 
noble, of a life still more precious, was needed to 
make the oblation complete. This last, this fear- 
ful offering has now been laid upon the nation's 
reeking altar. Abraham Lincoln is dead. 

"The shaper of the republic's destiny, he was 
murdered on the day when that destiny was finally 
moulded in the matrix of truth and justice. The 
savior of the republic's life, he yielded up his own 
just as the republic's existence was forever secured. 

42 



The Commander-in-chief of our long-battling armies, 
he sank in death at the very moment when 
those armies had achieved a lasting triumph. 

"In him was typified, more than ever before in 
any single individual, the cause of human liberty, 
and he perished in the hour which saw that cause 
victorious. He so guided the course of events that 
out of the bitterness of slavery a whole race entered 
into the blessedness of freedom, and he passed out 
of the world while the clanking echoes of the chains 
which he had broken had not yet died away. Through 
a night of storm and terror he steered the trembling 
ship of state, and when the morning dawned upon 
the vessel, sailing with its costly freight through a 
placid sea, the hand that had saved it became power- 
less. Who shall say that since that other good 
Friday, eighteen hundred years ago, when murder- 
ous men struck at the existence of Divinity itself, 
a riper life has been ended by a fouler blow? 

"The universal signs of sorrow attest the depth 
and breadth of the people's grief. The saddened 
nation clothes itself in black. The church bells 
toll a requiem which makes the sorrow-laden air 
still heavier. Sable festoons adorn, with gloomy 
decoration, our streets and squares. The minds 
of men are filled with a woe which the death of a 
father or brother could not have evoked. But 
there is a mourning still more appropriate to the 
occasion than these outer signs of inner feelings. 

43 



Let us mourn the dead President by being worthy 
of his greatness. Let us resolve that the liberty 
which he saved shall never again be lost, that the 
fetters which he sundered shall never again be 
joined, that the Union which he restored shall never 
again be broken. Let us live for human rights 
as he lived; let us die for them, if need be, as he died. 

"The great republic's head is gone; the great 
republic's heart is broken. God help the great 
republic." 

Illinois had given to the nation a man whom the 
nation honored, and the nation, to show its grati- 
tude, took charge of the remains of our beloved 
President, conveyed them with tender hands back 
to his adopted state, and in the city of Springfield, 
which he had left five years before when he bade 
his fellow citizens an affectionate farewell, he was 
buried. There his shrine is visited by thousands 
who stand near his remains with uncovered heads, 
feeling that they are in the presence of the dust of 
the greatest of all Americans. 

Today, as we are celebrating the one hundredth 
anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, let us 
consider the price of his success, let us emulate his 
example of honesty, integrity and devotion. 

Young women, young men, what will your answer 
be when it is asked of you what is the price of your 
success? The price of the success of your preceptors 
is not to be reckoned in dollars and cents for the 

44 



price of the success of the teaching profession is 
friendship for humanity and sacrifice for others. 
Will you place your success on the basis on which 
we place Lincoln's success today, or will you place 
your success on the basis of dollars and cents? Will 
you in your life work follow the precepts of Lincoln 
and pluck a thistle and plant a flower where you 
think a flower would grow in order to make the 
world better for your having lived in it? If you 
follow the precepts of Lincoln, and, like him, put 
your fellow men above self, and country above all, 
then when the question is asked, what is the price 
of your success, the answer will be found on the 
pages of your life, Friendship for Humanity and 
Sacrifice for Others. 

As Lincoln made history so we, too, are making 
history by honoring his memory, and as we today 
know the truth of the sentiment uttered by Lowell 
so will succeeding generations know the truth of 
Lowell's commemoration ode, and, like us, will 
repeat the lines: 

"Great captains, with their guns and drums, 

Disturb our judgment for the hour, 
But at last silence comes; 

These all are gone, and, standing like a tower, 
Our children shall behold his fame, 

The kindly, earnest, brave, foreseeing man, 
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame. 

New birth of our new soil, the first American." 



45 



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